The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has

cited Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. for five safety and health violations, comprised of three

repeat and two serious violations. They come in response to an inspection of a store in Rochester,

New York in March of 2015. This inspection was initiated in response to an injury in the bakery

department of the store at 1500 Brooks Ave. in Rochester. This is the second time that this

location has been cited by OSHA for safety violations. The violations from the inspection in

March for similar hazards. The citations for these inspections were for hazards relating to

lockout tagout procedures, machine guarding, and inadequate hand and face protection. These

violations carry proposed penalties of $188,200.

“If Wegmans had used proper safeguards, these preventable injuries would not have happened,”

said Michael Scime, OSHA’s area director in Buffalo. “The company must take corrective action

at all stores to ensure that hazards, such as these – and the injuries that result – are eliminated.”

Lockout tagout and machine guarding are among the most commonly cited OSHA violations

during audits. And as you can see from this example, there are real injury risks from these

violations as well as steep penalties. So if you have not recently reviewed your lockout tagout or

machine guarding policies and procedures, it is probably a good idea to do so. And if you need

any assistance in the review, you might want to contact a qualified third party occupational

safety and health auditing firm.

If you have any questions about this inspection or about updating occupational safety and health

policies and procedures, please contact us. If you want to add anything about this inspection,

please leave a comment.